Safeguarding

We make every effort to provide a safe and welcoming environment underpinned by a culture of openness where both children and adults feel secure, able to talk and believe that they are being listened to. We maintain an attitude of ‘it could happen here’ where safeguarding is concerned.

The purpose of the Safeguarding Policy is to provide staff, volunteers and governors with the framework they need to keep children safe and secure in our school and to inform parents and guardians how we will safeguard their children whilst they are in our care.

If we are concerned that your child may be at risk of abuse or neglect, we must follow the procedures in our Safeguarding Pupils Policy, a copy of which can be found in the policies section of our website.  Policies

In almost all circumstances we will talk to you about our concerns, and we will also tell you if we need to refer our concerns to the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Hub (MASH- this is a multi-agency team which identifies risks to vulnerable adults and children). We will inform you if we need to make a referral, but in some circumstances, we may need to make the referral without consulting you. We will only do this if we genuinely believe that this is the best way to protect your child and the fact that you did not consent to the referral will be recorded. More information available from the CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre).

Furthermore we:

• check the suitability of all our staff to work with children.

• encourage students to tell us if something is wrong.

• adhere to health and safety regulations.

• train all our staff to recognise and respond to child welfare concerns.

• appoint designated staff who have additional training in child protection.

• work in partnership with parents and carers.

• share information with appropriate agencies if we have concerns.